Life is an Essay Question 2.5.2026

     Much of our lives eludes quick, easy classification. As we grow older our parents appropriately begin a process of moving beyond clearly phrased unambiguous commands (Stop! Don’t! Wait! Etc.) To a more formative process of guidance. “What do you think?” “How would you do this?” Sometimes the guidance is even more subtle. “Hmmm.?!” or “Ok”. As we grow older and more mature, we need to be taught to rely on our own judgement. As believers we allow our judgement to be molded by scripture, heritage, and theology—but each of us must make individual decision regarding our lives. 

    When we are younger the questions we answer have mostly clear, black and white answers. As an analogy they are like test questions that are yes or no, true or false. The next step in our education is dealing with multiple choice questions where, presented with several options we must pick the right one, or at least the best one. Good parents and good teachers prepare us for the fact that most “tests” of life are neither. They are essay questions. They require years of preparation, and often additional years to draft. 

    True and false questions or even multiple-choice questions delude us into thinking that we have a finite amount of time to answer them and that the test is a sort of race. When we think of life itself as a race, we set ourselves up for a myriad of failures. Many of the testing circumstances of life require depth, thought, consideration, game-planning, and creative approaches. They are not races. Speed is not rewarded. Thorough, focused decision-making wins in the long run. What then does this behavioral or education insight have to do with preaching? Thank you for asking. Let me use an acronym to tell you want I mean by this approach to life and Ministry. Let me explain what I mean by P R E A C H.

Good preaching is...

Patient 

    Like an essay question on a test preaching requires patience. While we strive for every sermon to be a complete unit and provide a clear path to faith in Jesus, no sermon can disclose everything to be taught or known about Jesus. Good sermons clearly explain a single text or topic. 

    Patience is the virtue that allows us to be complete and through for this day and this context while understanding that there will (probably) be a next week. Essay questions require patience and broad understanding. When answering an essay question on a test the examinee wants to frame the answer so that the instructor knows that you understand—not that you are merely regurgitating a pat answer. Student’s love true/false or multiple-choice tests because you can pass them and not understand the material. You may actually know the answers and not know what they mean. 

    Essay questions provide no place to hide. You must be clear and thorough. You must anticipate—from an array of facts, interpretation, background information, and assigned reading what the instructor wants. Good teachers frame questions in such a way that student answers reveal their engagement with the subject rather than merely trolling for the right answer. 

    Preacher, you want to prepare and preach like this is your last sermon—praying and preparing for the next one, and recognizing that by God’s grace, when you are gone someone else will be taking the baton and carrying on. Good preaching, like answering essay questions is patient. 

Repetitive

    I spent a lot of time on this last week so I will merely mention this step and not drag it around too much. Essay questions, by their nature, require complete thoughts, summarizing, and necessary repetition. “Correct” answers to a classes essay questions will be more similar than dissimilar, that difference being primarily due to the individuality of the students. 

    While preaching needs to be creative, we should also acknowledge that it requires a healthy dose of repetition. There are only so many ways to discuss the sovereignty of God or what the Bible says about baptism. Beyond that if you set down deep roots and engage in a thorough preaching ministry you will come back to the same topics and texts repeatedly. The creative side of the coin, as I said last week, is to repeat yourself without being repetitive or redundant. 

Educational

    Good preaching teaches. Essay questions, when answered properly should reflect what the student has learned and demonstrate extensibility. That is to say the student should feel confident in her answer not just for those downstream (future students or congregants) but also upstream. The professor may not learn anything new, but a good essay answer shows that the message has been received. 

    Essay questions reveal the educational thrust of teaching (and to follow our analogy, preaching) because you cannot guess. You either know or don’t. How many preachers on a typical Sunday would willingly ask essay questions of the congregation to find out whether the people who heard him really understood what was said? 

    If your preaching never rises above propaganda, bluster, or soundbites you are failing your people and minimizing your call. Preacher’s teach scripture. Flocks need fed a real diet, not a few flecks of overly sweetened junk food tropes that leave them undernourished and ill-prepared for the rigors of the Christian life. If you preach regularly and no one learns anything it is time to recalibrate. 

Aggregative

    We preach at least fifty sermons a year (vacation?). In addition to other opportunities to preach and teach we write and speak a lot of words over the course of a year. Those words can either be scattered randomly at several targets, arise from the next topic that crosses our minds, be in reaction to external stimuli, or be planned in advance. When we (as by now you perhaps know I recommend) follow the latter course that allows us to be aggregative in our approach. Rather than unrelated sermons or lessons we can conceive of each individual lesson or sermon as a small part of the whole, bringing greater value to the whole 

    To make our preaching aggregative requires some planning in advance. When one studies for an examination or test a student rightly assumes that there is a broader goal presumed within that test. Generally, a syllabus describes the learning goals of a course and proscribes the general direction things will go. While Simple, fact-based tests measure a student’s retention of the facts, essay examinations allow the instructor to discern whether the student is aggregating information into a full learning experience. Is the student able to aggregate the parts, facts, and data into a complete structure or does she simply have a nice bag of parts when the experience is finished? One is merely a form of collection. The other real learning.

Cumulative

    Closely aligned with aggregating our materials into a complete package is understanding the cumulative impact of that aggregated material. Understanding that “these people will be back next Sunday” relieves us of the burden of cramming too much in a message for us to comfortably preach it or the congregation to hear it. 

    Embracing the cumulative nature of good preaching allows us to trace an arc through not just this week’s text but the whole book from which we are preaching aiming not merely for weekly impact but for longer, ongoing…cumulative change. 

Holistic 

    This whole process sees preaching as the beating heart of the process of discipleship. Rather than atomizing a congregation into the smallest possible group, the whole congregation, viewed as disciples or flock is growing together into the maturing body of Christ. This is not only holistic it is healthy. 

    A teacher who only seeks to reach the A students, or who makes it his mission to only elevate the F students, has largely missed the point of education as a collective enterprise. The point is not to notice the stars but to increase the understanding for everyone. 

    Likewise, holistic preaching seeks to treat separate sermons as contributing to the whole enterprise of maturing the Church. As individual disciples become more mature the whole body is strengthened. Not merely for the sake of the individual but for the sake of the entire local Body of Christ.